Parable series..The Parable of the Tenants

He went on to tell the people this parable:
"A man planted a vineyard, rented it to some farmers and went away for a long time. At harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants so they would give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. But the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed.

He sent another servant, but that one also they beat and treated shamefully and sent away empty-handed. He sent still a third, and they wounded him and threw him out.

"Then the owner of the vineyard said, 'What shall I do? I will send my son, whom I love; perhaps they will respect him.''
But when the tenants saw him, they talked the matter over.
''This is the heir,' they said. 'Let's kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.''

So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.

As Christians, we celebrate Christmas because of Jesus being born to this earth in order to save us from the grasp of evil and death. However, whilst we are celebrating...I sometimes think that for God, this must have been one of the most heartbreaking moments in his life...(that seems like a strange sentence to write about God..anyhow)

I mean, this beautiful world that he created for us to enjoy, was corrupted so much because of our own sin. And so he had to send his one and only Son, to come here, suffer and die for our sins....Yes! Jesus triumphs over death which is why we can also have hope...but, still, it must have caused him a great amount of pain.

It's ironic in the parable when the people think "Let's kill him so that the inheritance can be ours"...little did they know that if only that had welcomed the son, they would have had all that they wanted...

But instead, like so many times, they (we) tried (try) to do it their (our) own way and (suffer)(ed) as a result...

It was probably one of the hardest things God ever had to do sending Jesus to this earth. This is something I don't think about enough.

At lunch earlier, the question "If you could give anything to anyone, what would it be?" God gave us Jesus and with that comes everything good like Love, Joy, Hope, Peace and Salvation....I (sorry for the cliche).....but this really is the most wonderful gift...the fact that God gave it out of his own heartbreak because he loves us SO much, makes me want to love God more...

(and this is starting not to make any sense as I cannot write well enough to convey how I feel...)

anyhow...1st December 2007..The start of Advent....let the countdown begin...